Day 2 of Billi Pod and David's Normandy Adventure

Saturday - Day 2 of Billi Pod and David’s Normandy Adventure began early. We left the hotel around 7:30am, in pouring rain, to meet up with our tour group. We had directions on a small map that quickly became virtually unreadable due to the rain. We had to ask directions several times for a trip that should have taken less than 10 minutes. Not a good beginning we both thought. Well ... we finally located the pickup point==>whew!!

It was raining!

We were fortunate to have booked our Battlebus tour in advance because It was one of the last of their season. At 8:25 a.m. we, with six other Americans (two of whom were from Boston and are, of course, Red Sox fans) were loaded up and on our way to the American sector beaches and battle fronts along the coast of Normandy. David and I visited the British and Canadian sector beaches briefly on Friday and today we were to see the famous Omaha and Utah beaches.

It was raining!!

Our tour guide could not have been better. Alan, a British citizen in his early 40s, has been a serious scholar of the events surrounding the invasion for over 10 years. Four years ago moved his family to Normandy so he could walk the fields and beaches as he continued his research.

From the beginning he gave a very personal insight into the events of that historic day. He has written a book and has met and interviewed numerous veterans. He augmented his running narration with personal photos, maps, memorabilia etc he had collected over the years. He also did not hesitate to address some of the so-called “myths” that have come into being regarding the success and/or failure of certain aspects of the invasion.

One of our stops is very special to Alan. It was a very tiny church, Angoville au Plain, where two barely trained medics had parachuted nearby. For three days these two, who were 18 and 19, tended to the wounded soldiers of both sides and also treated civilian wounded.

Morphine ran out and all the pews were filled with seriously wounded young men who were in various states of dying. Both Robert White and Kenneth Moore were awarded Silver Stars for their efforts.

It was raining!!!!

Despite the now pouring rain everyone in the group walked down to and around the Utah and Omaha landing sites as Alan provided a nonstop narrative, personalized with names and photographs of some of those who survived and some of those who didn’t.

One of the most chilling comments from a survivor was: “2 years in training; 1 day in combat; 2 years in a hospital.”

And, speaking of D-day movies, Alan pointed out that of that genre which now includes Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, only The Longest Day was filmed on the actual locations where the events took place.

I simply cannot go into more details about the landing sites because once I start, then there is no way to stop. It was very emotional for everyone, including Alan.

Our last stop was the beautifully maintained American Cemetery above Omaha Beach were, among thousand of others, Teddy Roosevelt’s son and David’s uncle are buried.

Being there helped us understand that thousands of young men had given their lives in a battle to defeat evil and restore freedom to The World. We must never forget them!!

It was raining!!!!!!

It was around 5:30pm when we got back to Bayeux. We were all soaked and emotionally drained. We said our goodbyes, paid and tipped Alan and headed back to the hotel to the new rooms we were given to makeup for the WiFi problems. Guess what? WiFi didn’t work in my room. WTF!! No matter, I wasn’t going to let this minor glitch detract from what had been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

It was raining!!!!!!!!!!

We changed into dry clothes, found a nearby bistro and had a great dinner. It was around 10:30pm when we got back and officially ended Day 2 of Billi Pod and David’s Normandy Adventure.

It was raining!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Billi Pod

“Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.”

Report on Billi Pod’s Normandy Adventure - Day One.

Greetings my loyal and faithful readers. It is now 11:00pm, Paris time, on Sunday and David and I have settled back into his Paris apartment after completing a wonderful 3 day adventure going to D-Day landing sites and then inland for a scenic tour including some cathedrals.

I haven’t posted anything because at our hotel in Bayeax the promised WiFi service wasn’t working (no need to go into details ), so let me begin with Friday, aided immeasurably by David’s input --

**********

Armed with a Hertz rental car with a GPS guidance system (in English) Billi Pod and David were on our way out of Paris at 9:00am and headed to the Beaches of Normandy for our planned D-Day adventure. My first experience with a GPS system was fascinating in that when we left the Gare Nord (a major transportation hub) in Paris, with David driving, the system predicted that we would arrive at our programmed destination of the Memorial Center for History and Peace in Caen in 2 hours 37 minutes==>it proved to be only two minutes off. Awesome!!

The museum was like none I had ever seen. It traces through photographs, memorabilia, movies and rare artifacts the World's path from World War I, though the depression, the ascendancy of Hitler, the rearmament of Germany, World War II and the War Crimes Trials in Nuremberg. It has special emphasis on the Normandy D-Day Invasion.

We spent about 3 hours there and it proved to be an excellent way of orienting ourselves for the next 2 1/2 days in Normandy, even though we only had time to explore half of the museum.

When we left the museum, a 20 minute drive from Caen took us to the famous Pegasus Bridge about which I wasn’t familiar until I read a book, PEGASUS BRIDGE, by Steven Ambrose, as mandated by David in preparation for this day.

Very briefly, the capture of this very small bridge was vital to the entire success of D-Day because it held the key to preventing the German army from moving their tanks and troops from the east part of the French coastline where they had been concentrated to the Allied invasion sites on the Normandy Beaches. After capture it had to be protected for use by incoming Allied troops and equipment. 3 gliders were towed across the English channel and were released with a small detachment of highly trained British troops. Miraculously all 3 landed within 60 yards of the bridge a few minutes after midnight on D-Day, June 6, 1944, 6 hours before the invasion began. With this silent approach the troops were successful in capturing the bridge. They then repelled numerous counterattacks. It has been cited by British air historians as the most brilliant fete of aviation in World War II.

A newly opened Memorial museum is dedicated to the heroics of these airborne troops commanded by Major John Howard. We walked across the bridge and went to the glider landing sites. Because I had read the book as required, the whole scene felt alive to me, it really did. What an experience. One I will never forget, that is for certain.

Then we drove along the beach passing the "British sector” beaches, until it got dark. We then turned inland to our hotel in Bayeux, home of William the Conqueror and the starting point for our D-Day van tour on Saturday morning.

It was an adventure unto itself to find our hotel, gain access to the reserved parking area and check into our rooms. It was 8:00pm. We found a nice bistro and had a bite and then came back to our rooms. It was at this point that we discovered the WiFi problem(s) - as I said, I won’t bore you with the details.

Day One of our Normandy Adventures was complete. AWESOME!!

****************

Details on Saturday and Sunday will be posted tomorrow morning, Paris time.

Billi Pod

“Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.”

Armistice Day In Paris

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 an “Armistice” was signed in a railroad car in a clearing in the woods near Compiegne, France. Over 1,397,000 French soldiers lay dead. (Later, the Nazi’s used the same railroad car to accept the surrender of France in World War II). Appropriately the French take the Armistice Day very seriously and it is a national holiday with reduced service on all transportation.

Nevertheless, around 11:00am Billi Pod and David made their way to the Cafe Deux Magots for coffee and Danish.

This cafe is famous for the “Lost Generation” of American writers, such as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Joyce, Anderson and artists, such as Picasso, who made the cafe home in the 1920s.

Today a pleasant surprise awaited us. As background, David and I have known one another since we were roommates in 1962 while he was an undergraduate and I was in law school. As you can imagine, we have heard each other’s tales repeated ad infinitum (ad nauseum might also be appropriate) over the last 48 years and again for the last 96 hours. But, what a pleasant surprise befell us in the cafe when seated next to us were Dr. James Brookeman, Ph.D and his wife. She is a lawyer and he was a professor at the UF from 1968 to 1984 and is now a physics professor at the University of Virginia. What a surprise and blessing too! Neither had heard our stories before, of course, so basically David was off and running for about 45 minutes and, as usual, Billi Pod assumed the listening role, as is his want.

We had a very nice time with them and we are still amazed at what a small world it is ... think about it ... a cafe in Paris ... in the rain ... on Armistice Day ... and we make contact with a couple who have been part of The Gator Nation ... what are the odds? Oh, I forgot to add ... I was wearing my Yankee hat, not my Gator hat, and they spoke to us first ... what are the odds???

When we left the cafe we suffered the rain to catch a bus to the Louvre where we split. David spent some time in The Apple Store located in the Louvre Entrance Carousel and then came back to the apartment.

Billi Pod spent 3+ hours overloading on medieval art, artifacts and statues. Enough art for awhile, OK.

When I left the Louvre I walked back to the apartment. It was still raining. As a matter-of-fact, it is still raining at 11:00pm.

David fixed another great dinner - salad, fish, rice and peas. We decided to stay in tonight because ...

Early tomorrow we pick up our rental car at Gare Nord and head northward to the Normandy Beaches. First will be Caen for the World War II Museum (now known as the Memorial to Peace Museum), then on to the Pegasus Bridge (much more about that in the next blog) before spending the night at Bayeux - home to William the Conqueror.

Saturday begins early as we board a six person van for an all-day tour of the D-Day Beaches and some inland towns, i.e. St-Mere Eglise., St. Lo, etc.

Hope to be able to give a report tomorrow night after we reach our hotel in Bayeux.

Oh, as most of you loyal and faithful readers are no doubt aware ... David has been a major contributor in the preparation of these postings.

GO GATORS!!

Billi Pod

“Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.”

Billi Pod & David Go Artsy in Paree!!

Well, my loyal and faithful readers, after a near-record, gasp, 9 hours sleep to get over jet lag, Billi Pod and David finally started our second day on the rues of Paris.

After a pleasant 15 minute walk along the Left Bank of the Seine we arrived at Museum d’ Orsay - my favorite Paris Museum. Generally considered the world greatest Impressionist museum, we spent two and one half hours looking at scores of Van Goghs, Manets, Degas, Reniors and Toulouse-Lautrecs. A sign apologized for not having the dozen or so Monets on display. They have all been loaned to the Museum Grand Palais which is exhibiting history’s largest Monet display consisting of 177 of his works. We have reservations to see it at 2 p.m. Monday.

When we left d’Orsay we took off to the Right Bank where I left David in a cafe to work his crossword puzzles while I sought out more modern art at the Jeu de Paume. Spent about 90 minutes there.

We got back to the apartment around 5:15 and after a quick salad and soup we caught the bus for tonight’s highlight, the musical MAMMA MIA at the Mogador Theatre.

It was in French. I had seen it several times on Broadway and had no problem following the show with Abba’s lyrics in French, however, David (who speaks and understands very basic French) had never seen it. Since the majority of the musical is song and dance, he came out with a big smile even though our seats were nearly even with the height of The Eiffel Tower. The house was sold-out.

After a circuitous coupling of bus and metro we returned to Pont Neuf where we crossed The Seine on foot to arrive back at his apartment around 11:30.

It was a wonderful, exciting, exhilarating and tiring day.

Tomorrow’s plans are yet to be decided at the moment.

GO GATORS!!

Billi Pod

“Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.”

Billi Pod’s Report From Across The Pond

Hi my loyal and faithful readers. It is 10:45pm, Tuesday evening, in Paris, France, and Billi Pod is soooooooo very happy to report that I am here, safe, sound, happy and very tired. Let me give you a quick (for moi) report.

The trip to JFK went fine. This time I used a car service rather than Super Shuttle. Arrived in plenty of time. Had no problems checking in and clearing security. When I got to the gate I was able to change my seat to an exit row aisle. Yeah!!

Just before the boarding process began a group of Hassidic Jews, who I later learned were returning to Paris following a worldwide conference in NYC, stood and began praying and stuff, about 25 in number. It really spooked some of the other passengers.

Anyway, the flight boarded on time and pushed back from the gate on time, and then ... tada ... we were stuck on the tarmac for almost an hour.

One of the Jewish group was seated next to me but we really didn’t get a chance to talk because he immediately went to sleep and didn’t wake up until we began our descent into Paris, 7 hours later.

The flight went fine and, of course, I was unable to sleep. I spent the time finishing my reading assignment and working crosswords. Actually, the time went by very fast.

We made up some of the lost time and actually touched down at CDG basically on schedule, however, there was a mechanical glitch at the gate and we were delayed almost 30 minutes getting off. It was 7:18am and it had begun to lightly rain.

I am happy to report that: my duffle bag arrived; I had no problems with passport control and security; was able to find the right train into Paris; got off at the proper station; found David’s building; buzzed myself in; and was in his apartment on The Seine at 9:10am. It was raining. Yes, I was tired. We had lots of catching up to do and we did.

At 11:00am we headed out to the outdoor market at Rue Buci for fruit and veggies. Then an aimless walk around St-Germain-des-Pres and the labyrinth of streets around St-Michel. It was raining.

When we got back to the apartment I have to confess, in the name of fair and unbiased reporting, that Billi Pod napped for almost 2 hours, gasp!!

At 4:30p.m. we did a series of on-again off-again bus rides to Pigalle, Moulin Rouge and other spots for sinning (David’s words, not mine).

Then we went up Montmartre to Basilica Sacre Coure and our traditional first night view of Paris lights. It was raining

We bussed back to Centre Pompideau, walked through Les Halles and then caught a bus home. We were back at 8:00pm. It was raining.

David then prepared an excellent home-cooked meal.

Our plans tomorrow will probably include some art galleries and then we have an 8:00 performance of Mamma Mia.

OK, everyone is almost 11:30pm and I am very very tired, so ... talk with you later. Please excuse any errors, etc.

GO GATORS!!

Billi Pod

“Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.”

Sunday In The Big Apple

In the name of fair and balanced reporting Billi Pod has to admit to his loyal and faithful readers that yesterday he was a total 100% couch-potato, watching college football from noon until, gasp, midnight.

Oh, he did some things in preparation for his Paris Adventure, but basically he was A COUCH-POTATO!!!

As you know, The Gators kicked butt, winning 55-14 over Vandy, while both the ‘Noles and The Canes lost. LSU (a team the Gators could/should have beaten) beat ‘Bama so who knows who is going to win the SEC West. If the Gators, with 3 conference losses, beat the limp-cocks aka South Carolina next Saturday then Florida will advance to the SEC Championship against WTF knows?

Yes, the college football scene remains, well, a mess, and no one can predict the end of the season outcome, that is for certain.

Anyhow, today Billi Pod has an entertainment doubleheader, both Broadway shows ...

3:00==>ELLING-“a comedy about a wildly mismatched pair of roommates trying to embrace life, love, friendship, pizza, poetry and women.” Brandon Fraser is in the cast.

The show is in very early previews and the “buzz” is definitely mixed.

7:00==>RAIN: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES ON BROADWAY-“multi-media concert tribute to the Beatles.”

I am 98.5% ready to head across The Pond to Paris aka The City of Smelly People. Still, however, working on my reading assignments.

GO GATORS!!

Billi Pod

“Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.”

Billi Pod's Paris Adventure Schedule

Hi my loyal and faithful readers, this is Billi Pod’s schedule for the upcoming Paris (aka The City of Smelly People) Adventure, beginning on Monday, November 8th and ending on Tuesday, November 16th:

**********

Monday - 05:55pm - depart JFK AA #44

Tuesday - 06:30am - arrive Paris CGD

I will be staying with my former law school roomie, David West, formerly of Gainesville, FL, in his very nice apartment on The Left Bank, directly across the Seine River from The Louvre.

Wednesday - 08:00pm - Mamma Mia

Thursday - Armistice Day (a very important day in France, I am told)

Friday - 08:00am - pick up our rental car and drive to the Normandy area where we will overnight in Bayeux at HOTEL LE BAYEUX. No Billi Pod will not be driving.

Saturday - 8:30am to 5:30pm - American Highlights Tour, which includes: Sainte Mere Eglise (the first town liberated by US troops); Airborne Museum; Airborne Drop Zones; Utah Beach; Pointe du Hoc (infamous German gun position); Omaha Beach; and Colleville US Cemetary (resting place of 9,387 US service personnel)

On Saturday night we are not certain where we will overnight.

Sunday - return to Paris in the evening via our rental car

Monday - 2:00 - Monet Exhibit (dammit I can’t remember the location)

Tuesday - 09:55am - depart Paris - AA #45; 01:15pm - arrive JFK

**********

I will have my iBook with me and will have internet access while in David's apartment. Not sure about when we are in Normandy. Hopefully I can post both to my FaceBook Wall and to this blog.

If you are interested, the projected weather patterns in Paris almost mirror NYC this time of year.

Billi Pod is very charged, to say the least.

Sunday is the New York Marathon. Did you know that Billi Pod (actually that wasn’t his name back then) ran in, and successfully completed, the 1978/79 Marathons--no joke==>got pictures to prove it. No big deal back then. Only about 10,000 runners and all you had to do was pay your entrance fee and show up. You didn’t even get a T-shirt or anything at the end of the race. Not that way now, that is for sure.

Have a theater double header for tomorrow that I will post about in the morning.

GO GATORS!!

Billi Pod

“Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.”

Saturday - GO GATORS!!

A beautiful brisk day in The Greatest City In The World and Billi Pod is definitely in a countdown mode for the Paris Adventure beginning on Monday.

Yesterday-finally==>face-time/brunch with student/General Manager Scott Reed @ Grey Dog in Chelsea==>nice to catch up on things and stuff and get even more details regarding his involvement with The Benefit for The Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Last night’s entertainment event was LETTER FROM ALGERIA-“a dark drama about 3 students studying abroad and their “relationships” with a mega-rich man of mystery.” My report card==>C-<==story line totally unbelievable and I hated every one of the characters.

Today at noon==>GATORS @ VANDY on MSG. It goes without saying that the Gators must win this, and the remainder of their games, in order to salvage the season and play in a meaningful bowl game.

Tonight will probably catch DUE DATE, the just opened road-comedy starring Robert Downey, Jr.

Will post details on my Paris Adventure later today, hopefully.

GO GATORS!!

Billi Pod

“Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.”

Thursday==>rain and gray in The Big Apple

It is rainy and gray in The Big Apple and it is supposed to be like this for the rest of the day and into the evening.

I will take this opportunity to do some more reading in my homework assignment for my upcoming trip to Paris aka "The City of Smelly People."

As expected, the daily papers are full of stories analyzing the election results locally and nationally and, my loyal and faithful readers, there is no way for us Yellow Dog Democrats to put a positive spin on any of it==>it was an ass whuppin’, plain and simple and I am not certain Obama understands the depth of the anger and frustration against all levels of government and against his apparent lack of leadership skills.

How will this translate in 2012 and is he a one-term President? I honestly don’t know the answer to either question. I do not, however, believe the American people, no matter how unhappy we may be, will vote to replace Obama with Palin. Someone else, maybe, Palin==>No.

Moving on ... this is Billi Pod’s report card on yesterday’s entertainment double header:

WINGS==>C<==just didn’t work for me and I think the reason is that I found the story line about the ravishing effects of a stroke to be too difficult for me to process. I think most of the audience had the same reaction since it was a Wednesday matinee (which I hate) and the average age was 60+. Too close to home, I guess.

OFFICE HOURS==>B<==excellent ensemble cast and definitely worth seeing.

Tonight-8:00==>IMAGINING HESCHEL- “Richard Dreyfuss stars in this imagining of a private conversations between Cardinal Augustin Bea and Rabbi Abraham Heschel in 1968. The Pope sent Bea to Heschel to implore him to accept a formal and public apology from the Catholic Church for their silence during the Holocaust and Heschel turned the meetings around lobbying the Pope to formally exonerate the Jews for the death of Christ.” Richard Dreyfuss in a limited Off-Broadway run - WOW!!

Baseball note==>Jeter’s agent’s response to Hal Steinbrenner==>“Clearly, baseball is a business and Derek’s impact on the sport’s most valuable franchise can’t be overstated.” Oh, yes, lines are about to be drawn in the sand.

Billi Pod is in a countdown mode for his upcoming trip to Paris aka “The City of Smelly People.” Many more details in a later posting.

GO GATORS!!

Billi Pod

“Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.”

The Election==>WHAM!! WOW!! OMG!! WTF!!

WHAM!! WOW!! OMG!! WTF!!

Well, the results are in and to say that voters nationwide are outraged is a major understatement. I hope the “pols” i.e. “those in power” get the message. But the problem is==>the “message” is in the eye of the beholder.

Billi Pod foresees 2 years of utter chaos in Washington because gridlock in the legislative process is a virtual given now that the Dems control the Senate and the Reps control The House and the veto-club remains in Bam’s hand.

But the bottomline is that a large majority of this grand ole country are PISSED with government, local, state, national. We will just have to wait and see how it all plays out.

So, my loyal and faithful readers, now let’s move on to other things, like ...

Billi Pod’s report card on BRIEF ENCOUNTERS==>charming and delightful. The staging and acting is terrific. It is a play with music, not a musical. See it if you can.

Today is a theater doubleheader--

2:00==>WINGS- a drama set in the 1920s about a female daredevil wing-walker who is stricken with a stroke.” The show has received excellent reviews.

7:00==>OFFICE HOURS-“written by A. R. Gurney specifically for the Flea’s resident acting company, the play explores the teaching of the classics in our modern world.”

Brief baseball news==>the Yankee front office began the process of re-signing free-agents Derek Jeter, 36, and Mariano Rivera, 40, with the following remark from Hal Steinbrenner: “There’s always the possibility that things could get messy. ... Hank and I need to keep a level head and realize that we’re running a business .”

To Billi Pod this translates to: “take what we offer, you soon-to-be old farts, or go f**k yourselves.”

Gonna be interesting.

GO YANKEES AND GO GATORS!!

Billi Pod

“Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.”

Congrats To The Giants!!

Major congrats to the GIANTS and their fans for their first World Series Championship in 56 years. It was a very exciting game to watch, and, yes, Billi Pod stayed in to watch it, hoping that the RANGERS would come back from the abyss. Alas, it wasn’t to be. What a pitching dual between Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum. Lee made one bad pitch and==>WHAM!!<==it was over.

Now the bidding war begins for Lee, who becomes a free agent. Will he come to the Yankees? Truthfully, my gut tells me no, but only time will tell.

You know, it’s gonna be a tough 5 months for Billi Pod as he anxiously awaits the start of the 2011 season, I mean, The Gators season has tanked, and who cares about pro-football and/or basketball ... I mean ... baseball is the national past time and it will be in hiatus for almost 5 months ... oh well ... nuttin Billi Pod can do ‘bout it, so ...

Monday was pretty much a so-so day==>errands and stuff took longer than anticipated and as mentioned above, I stayed in to watch the World Series game.

Tonight’s entertainment event is a Broadway show that has received very good reviews-8:00==>BRIEF ENCOUNTERS-“the romantic journey of an unhappily married woman and a handsome doctor who meet unexpectedly in a train station coffee shop.” This is a part of my Roundabout Theatre subscription series.

Hard to believe that one week from today I will be in Paris with roomie David West.

David has mandated that I read two books prior to my arrival in The City of Smelly People==>“The Longest Day” and “Pegasus Bridge” in preparation for our planned trip to Normandy. More details to come. I am only 1/3 thru "The Longest Day," so I better post this and then do some reading.

GO GATORS!!

Billi Pod

“Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.”

Billi Pod Reports on October 2010==>You Decide!

Billi Pod’s entertainment events for October 2010 in New York City, The Greatest City In The World, are diverse, interesting and eclectic, in my humble opinion==>theater, rock concerts, post-season baseball games, movies and a historic rally, not in NYC but down in DC.

But, as always, it is up to you loyal and faithful readers to decide, so without further ado ... here are Billi Pod’s entertainment stats for the month of October 2010 --

In checking my daily log (log, not diary - real guys don’t keep diaries) I find that during the month of October 2010 Billi Pod did/saw/attended the following:

4 Broadway shows (La Bete, The Scottsboro Boys, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, and Colin Quinn: Long Story Short); 13 Off Broadway shows; 3 movies (The Social Network, It's Kind Of A Funny Story, and Red); 2 rock music concerts (Roger Waters-The Wall and STYX); and 4 Yankee post season games (2 wins & 2 losses - season record==>34 wins & 20 losses).

The highlight of the month was, of course, Jon Stewart’s RALLY TO RESTORE SANITY in Washington, DC, on October 30th with 200,000+ of my closest friends. A close second was the STYX concert with BMS aka Benjamin Mark Sears.

Major downers for the month==>The Yankees imploding and failing to make it back to the World Series and==>The Gators miserable stretch of losing 3 consecutive games, for the first time since the dark ages of Charlie Pell and his ilk and==>failure to have any face time with student/General Manager John Scott Reed.

During the month there were, gasp, 7 days/nights when Billi Pod stayed in PHC without attending some entertainment event. On 5 of these occasions Billi Pod was in a couch-potato mode glued to the TV, watching ...tada... Yankee games.

I posted regularly to my FaceBook Wall: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?

ref=name&id=100000655659050.

Billi Pod also posted 30 times on this blog: http://wanorrisjr.blogspot.com, although in a somewhat abbreviated format.

So, my loyal and faithful readers, there you have it. Was it another outstanding month in The Big Apple? I humbly think so, but it is up to you to decide, because --

I report - you decide.

GO YANKEES AND GO GATORS!!

Billi Pod

“Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.”